Nature Study and the School Garden 



Katharine L. Koehler 

 Hyde Park, Cincinnati, Ohio 



It is an acknowledged and much deplored fact that nature study 

 is either very unsystematically taught or is neglected entirely 

 by the majority of teachers in our elementary schools. 



That nature study could be made a highly valuable subject 

 of the curriculum is undoubtedly true. The usual course of 

 study does not make the appeal to the thoughtful teacher nor to 

 the average class that the richness of concrete material around us 

 would warrant. The fault is with the poor organization of the 

 material and lack of suggestions of vital projects to present to 

 the children. 



To make nature study vital to the children it must function 

 in their every day lives and bring such a wealth of interesting 

 experiences it will rather deepen that aesthetic appreciation so 

 earnestly defended by nature-study enthusiasts. 



In a recent number of the Teachers College Record (March, 19 17) 

 an article by Maurice A. Bigelow states very strongly the aims 

 and purposes of science in the modern school. These same 

 purposes should dominate the nature-study of the first six grades 

 as well as the science of the upper grades and of the high schools. 

 Mr. Bigelow says: 



"The modern school, which aims to fit the life of the average 

 intelligent citizen, must soon meet the demand for applied science, 

 for science that fits life. That must be applied science in the 

 largest sense of the word 'applied', namely, science that presents 

 the great facts and leading ideas which touch human life in its 

 combined economic, industrial, hygienic, intellectual and aesthetic 

 outlook * * * Every topic, every lesson, and even- sub- 

 division of a lesson should be planned with reference to these two 

 questions : 'Are the available facts in this case clearly of interest, 

 are they applicable, are they significant in the life of the average 

 citizen?' 'Are the materials selected, arranged, and presented 

 with reference to the most efficient teaching of science to the 

 particular pupils at hand?' Upon the affirmative answer to 

 these two questions will depend the fate of science as the claimant 

 for a very prominent place in the curriculum of the modern 

 school that surely is to come." 



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